Down On The Mile High Street: 1969 Chevrolet Camaro
Since I started the Down On The Street series for some other site back in ’07 (the very first car in the series was this ’84 Cadillac Cimarron d’Oro, of all things), I’ve photographed exactly three first-generation Camaros: this perfect ’67 RS convertible, this purple ’69… and today’s car, a Denver survivor that lives on the street and doesn’t fear a little snow.
The mercury in Denver now reads about 80 degrees higher than it did a week or two ago, and I can’t swear that this car was driving around when it was 15 below and snowing like crazy. Rear-wheel-drive, 350 power, and a 1960s heater/defroster technology require a bit more concentration from the driver than these newfangled modern machines, but our forefathers managed to drive cars like this in all weather conditions.
I’ve never owned a first-gen Camaro (though I have owned plenty of small-block-Chevy-powered machinery), but I’m old enough to have driven, ridden in, and worked on many, many examples of the breed; you’d never guess it today, but the first-gen Camaro was a common sight on the street as recently as the mid-1980s. I recall a friend of mine in 1983 agonizing between a fairly beat ’68 Camaro with a 327 and a semi-nice ’67 Mustang with a six-cylinder, both priced at 300 bucks (he bought the Mustang, which he promptly wrecked when its parking brake failed while parked on a steep hill). What a dilemma! They drive pretty much the same as their first cousin, the Nova, but most of them have been banished to the golden cage of the car-show/cruise-night milieu by now. I’m glad to see that the owner of this car still drives the thing; I’m bored to death by ’67-69 Camaros in car shows, but one on the street is very welcome sight. I’m going to go back and try to track down the owner, so I can get his or her story about the car.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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I am not william442. I'm not selling or arguing. Just telling what I read. You can add it up any way you want.
Ronnie, are you sure the thermostat was working properly in your valiant? Coolant level filled? Heater core not partially plugged? Temperature door not partially stuck? Body seals maybe deteriorating allowing drafts? Even the smallest draft or two will make a car ice cold in temps that low. And even a modern car can have heating issues if something is amiss in the heating/cooling system. I seriosuly doubt this camaro has problems heating up, because although the small block chevy has it's faults one problem it never had was warming up. The cars 57 chevy is cool if you are into them, but I doubt they sell a whole lot of them. One could get an original highly optioned fuelie ragtop for that kind of dough. Or even a nomad and a couple of other less expensive shoeboxes. I never cared for the 57's myself, I prefer the looks of the 55, I think it has a much cleaner look. But I'm not into chevies, so it doesn't really matter, lol. :o)